Bond Pearce

Food product safety and liability issues are heavily regulated. No matter how closely food laws are monitored, new developments which impact upon the operations of manufacturers, retailers and caterers can be easy to miss. Our strategic thinking helps our clients gain commercially through the consideration, planning, mitigation and reasoned adoption of risk. We operate in a way that enables our clients turn avoidance into a source of competitive advantage.

As part of the Regulatory, Risk and Reputation group, our Food and Drink Team has extensive experience of working with national and international food product companies on all aspects of food safety, compliance and liability issues. The compliance team is headed up by Nicky Loadsman and advises on non-contentious regulatory and strategic issues, including labelling, packaging, product claims, marketing and advertising materials and product launches.

Our unique knowledge of EU and UK food law and our advocacy ability ensures that we can secure the best and most cost effective results for our clients. We have a deep understanding of the legal requirements and why they were introduced. This in turn enables us to effectively challenge inappropriate enforcement.

We provide:

  • product safety advice both in terms of proactive compliance and more reactive where there is a threatened or actual prosecution. This includes advice on labelling, product claims and marketing/advertising, and on potential and actual product recalls
  • advice, guidance and interpretation on UK and EU regulatory frameworks
  • advice on EU enforcement authorities' interpretation of EU regulations to advise on the risks presented by new labels, packaging, promotional activities, nutrition and health claims
  • advice on marketing promotions, ASA complaints, consumer law issues, consumer complaints and claims
  • advice on all phases of a product's lifecycle, including research and development, trials and testing, marketing and advertising materials, product launches, as well as product use
  • advice on response to formal requests for information by enforcement authorities such as the Food Standards Agency and local environmental health authorities and representation in interviews under caution during investigation by these and other authorities
  • advocacy in all courts in the defence of prosecutions and in appealing enforcement notices issued by the authorities such as hygiene improvement and prohibition notices
  • advice on all matters of food safety and hygiene, from manufacture to sales, including drafting and implementation of compliant food safety management (HACCP) plans, staff training and advice on processes and systems to identify new risks, ensure plans are kept under review and remain compliant
  • advice on compliance with environmental and welfare requirements during the manufacturing process including waste management, environmental permits and animal welfare
  • we devise and assist in the implementation of policies, systems and procedures, for example, sales and procurement, forms of agreement, product recall, document retention, internal guidelines for branding and marketing compliance, marketing approval systems, short life codes, online sales and deliveries and minimum pricing
  • ongoing rapid response advice, including advice on major product launch campaigns, both nationally and internationally, advertising copy, strategies and images to ensure compliance with the Portman Code, CAP Code and BCAP Codes amongst others
  • policy advice and guidance on packaging and labeling consistency, and on the legality of marketing plans and campaigns, including challenging unfair/misleading commercial practices and defending similar challenges on our clients' behalf

Our work:

  • advising an international food manufacturer on the import procedures and product labeling and content requirements for South Korea, a new market for the company. This included advice on the differing requirements where the potential customer was a consumer as opposed to a business to business transaction. This enabled the client to meet the stringent importing requirements within South Korea in advance of the product launch, so that there was no delay in the product going to market
  • advising a start-up company on the launch of a new food product launched in January 2012. This work included advice on UK and country-specific product safety legislation, packaging, labeling, product instructions, website content, advertising and marketing, materials, document retention requirements, testing, data protection issues.
  • advising a UK food manufacturer on the amendments necessary to its UK advertising/marketing strategy in order to comply with relevant regulatory requirements when exporting to the Far East. This included liaising with the relevant regulatory authorities in the countries concerned and obtaining "on the ground" information on how best to sell the product in each country, including identifying language and cultural variations. The product was successfully launched within the target timescale
  • advising on the structure and content of product recall and document retention policies and requirements for food manufacturers and suppliers, including drafting and assisting in the implementation of those policies. We worked closely with the client's operations team to ensure that the processes were practical and could be implemented relatively quickly with as little disruption as possible to the existing systems
  • providing advice to a UK manufacturer on legislative compliance in exporting foods to new markets, including India and Singapore. This included product safety, labeling, marking and packaging requirements, identification procedures so that in the event of a batch being found to be non-compliant, it could be easily identified, traced and recalled. Advice on import requirements and the requisite documentation was also provided
  • advising a food manufacturer on document retention policies and procedures relating to packaging/recycling and disposal requirements under the Packaging Waste Directive and Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations. This was in light of a threatened prosecution for over-packaging of a new product. We advised on the required amendments to the policy, to ensure that should an investigation be carried out in the future, all necessary documents and due diligence was clearly evidenced and located centrally, saving considerable time and costs in the future
  • the defence and management of claims on behalf of an international food producer arising from the contamination of prepared ready meals. These products were distributed to many retail outlets, leading to a large product recall exercise and claims running into multi-million pounds. We advised on investigations brought by regulatory authorities, the substantive defence of the claims, and the PR strategy to be adopted to minimize the harm to our client's reputation
  • successful defence of a threatened prosecution relating to breaches of the Food Labelling Regulations, for continuing to have on sale out of date products. We made detailed representations to the prosecution team, after which the prosecution decided it was not in the public interest to continue the case and withdrew the charges; a costs order in favour of our client was made. We established that a due diligence defence applied and that the error was due to human failure and not our client's systems. We successfully argued that it was not in the public interest, as between the time of the alleged offence, the interview under caution and the charges being laid, our client had radically changed the operational system, on our advice, and these had been implemented, on both a local and national level
  • policy advice to numerous clients on key social responsibility issues surrounding high sugar content in food and children, nutritional and dietary claims, including advice on the marketing strategy as well as direction and content of advertising campaigns. This includes advice on the positioning of the product in the market, advice on comparator products, serving sizes which should be considered and ways to negate any possible adverse press
  • policy advice on the application and extension of the Sunday Trading Act to key clients on the opening of stores on Easter Sunday, and home delivery times on Sundays. This advice has included drafting guidance notes for staff and has resulted in the implementation of systems to monitor and ensure compliance with the legislation
  • advice to numerous clients on the advertising and marketing restrictions in place for the 2012 Olympics. This includes ensuring clients are fully aware of the implications surrounding the legislation aimed to protect the Olympic and Paralympic brands and official sponsors, including advertising at the and in the vicinity of the official venues, street sales legislation, what is and is not prohibited
  • defending an international food manufacturer in a prosecution for breaches of its environmental permit regulating pollutant emissions during the rendering process of animal by-products
  • advising a national meat supply business in investigation by the Food Standards Agency for breaches of temperature holding requirements. We advised our client on its written response to formal requests by the Agency for information, leading to no further action being taken by the authorities
  • we instructed leading temperature control and HACCP experts in successfully resisting a prosecution under the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 for breach of hygiene improvement notices for a substantial food business operator
  • advising an intensive farming business over its licensing requirements under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010; we argued our client's case reaching agreement with the Environment Agency, based on novel interpretation of the Regulations and EU Guidelines, on the requirements for a permit regulating aggregated farming activities across a group of subsidiary farming operations on the same site.
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Bond Pearce LLP is a leading commercial law firm providing regulatory, corporate, commercial, real estate and dispute resolution services to some of the UK’s pre-eminent organisations. We are recognised nationally particularly for our work in the energy, commercial insurance, real estate and retail sectors, and for our approach to client service. © Copyright 2011 Bond Pearce LLP. All rights reserved. 3, Temple Quay, Temple Back East Bristol, BS1 6DZ